Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 1851 to 1875 of 2665 results

1851. Unexpected Invasions

Isaiah 64:1-9

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... his face comes into my mind's eye. Here we are in December. December is not so much another month as it is another state of mind. In December we bring trees into our houses and light up our yards like living rooms. In December we shop till we drop and socialize until we are anesthetized with the busyness of the season. In December we sing of peace on earth good will to all and then continue to prepare for war. What if this December were different? Could you use a miracle this Advent season? How about an ...

1852. Why Do People Suffer?

John 9:1-7

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , which is much more critical than the first. What can we do when suffering happens? May I suggest three things. We can embrace God's grace. Jesus says, Come to the waters, stand by my side, I know you are thirsty, you won't be denied. I felt every tear drop when in darkness you've cried, and I've come to remind you, that for those tears I died. There is one who suffers beside us. You do not have to die with a guilty conscience, nor live with one, either. Christ has already paid the price for your sins ...

1853. Building a Lasting Legacy

Matthew 7:24-29

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... never forget our purpose. II. WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING A LEGACY, EACH PIECE IS IMPORTANT. There is an old fable about a little nail on the roof of a church that started feeling unimportant and unappreciated. So, on a hot, July afternoon, the nail just dropped from the shingle, slid down the roof, into the gutter, and eventually onto the ground. No one really noticed it. In fact, hardly anybody noticed when in a windstorm that summer a shingle blew away. People were busy in that church. You know how we are ...

1854. Finding Our Place In All Creation

Job 38:1-18

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... injured in a car accident near the shopping mall. The injuries were not too serious and the paramedic was really nice. We went out a few times and he invited me to move in with him, which sure beats dorm life a lot. He's extremely smart even though he dropped out of high school. I really like his long hair and tattoos. The weekends are a real blast when we get high on drugs. I especially hope you like him since I may be expecting our first child soon. Love, Your daughter. P.S. There was no accident, no ...

1855. How to Make Heaven Our Home

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to someone else and say, “Don’t do as I say, just do as I do”? Will Willimon illustrates it this way: At confirmation one year, Joe, a young adult, became a mentor for Max, a 14-year-old kid. Joe took his responsibility seriously, saying to Max, “Drop by my apartment anytime. Let’s be friends.” About three weeks later, Max did stop by Joe’s apartment. At the time, Joe happened to be in bed with his girlfriend. He was embarrassed. A week or so later Max asked Joe, “When did you decide to live ...

1856. We Believe in Life Everlasting

John 11:17-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... we worry that our lives are passing in a parade of trivialities, it is good to find someone in need and help them. Teens who help others are 50% less likely to join gangs, use drugs, or become pregnant. Their grades are better and drop out rates are lower. Of course it works on the other end of the age spectrum as well. Erik Erikson said people approaching the last chapters of their lives choose between stagnation and generativity. Stagnated people think only about themselves. Generative people invest in ...

1857. We Believe in Jesus Christ

John 20:19-31

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to embrace the cross as the central symbol of our faith so that we put it in our sanctuaries and tower it from our steeples saying to the world, “In the cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wrecks of time"? Maybe Christians have always known: But drops of grief could ne'er repay the debt of love I owe Here Lord I give myself away, tis all that I can do. Christ, Himself, is Christianity. III. HE IS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. Popular author and speaker, Ravi Zacharias, is a man of great spiritual ...

1858. Come to Bethlehem and See

Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... kites on Christmas morning. She says to her youthful companion, “I'll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown himself." Indeed He has. He has made himself known to his people. That is what Christmas is all about. So just drop everything for a moment and listen to the angels sing and be in the presence of Christ. When our boys were little we had a Christmas morning rule that no one could get up before sunrise. Having been up all night on Christmas Eve leading worship services ...

1859. What Would Jesus Say About Me?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

Well, here we are in 2003. The bells have tolled. The balls have dropped and the calendars have turned us toward new responsibilities. Before we get bogged down with the hopes and fears of a brand new year, let us take a few moments on our way to Holy Communion to ponder the deeper meanings of life. Who am I? What do I want? ...

1860. What Would Jesus Say About the Marginalized?

Luke 4:14-30

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Glad to live long enough to see the old law “gleaning" alive again. Thanks to the society of St. Andrew, 39,415 volunteers distributed 32 million pounds of produce to relief agencies and soup kitchens across America in 2002. We played a small part here with potato drops. Here is the way it works. Two truck loads of Florida Citrus fruit are rejected because boxes in which they were packed had no bar codes and could not be electronically scanned into inventory. Do they go to the dump? Do they go to feed the ...

1861. The Bread We Daily Need

Luke 11:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... I need thee, every hour I need thee O bless me now my Savior I come to thee. We pray with the open hand of faith.: All I have needed thy hand has provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. We pray with the open hand of receptivity.: But drops of grief could ne’er repay The debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away, tis all that I can do. Why is it so hard for us to ask for help? My children say they hate to buy me Christmas presents. “We never know what to ...

1862. Stepping Into the Stream

Matthew 14:22-33

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . I have failed over and over again in my life. And that’s exactly why I succeeded.” Did you watch Paul Hamm make a comeback the other night in the all around gymnastics? I didn’t. I went to bed when he faltered badly on the vault dropping to twelfth place. But he came back later that night to perform flawlessly on the parallel bars and high bar to become the first American male to ever win the all around championship. (This sermon was preached before the controversy.) There is an old story about an ...

1863. The Greatest Story Ever Told

Luke 15:11-32

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Father give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” I often wonder what my response might be should one of my two sons make such a request during my lifetime. I’ve often tried to think of several nice responses like: Drop dead Dream on You’ve got to be kidding Get a life. This is Middle Eastern culture. All the father’s social security is tied up in extended family. To the first hearers the request of this son was absurd. In fact, Kenneth Baily asked people of all ...

1864. The Door of Forgiveness

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Thi Kim Phuc survived and later moved to Toronto. In 1996 she was invited to speak at a Veterans Day observance in Washington, D.C. John Plummer, who lived nearby, decided to attend. In her speech Kim said, “If I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs, I would tell him we cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the present." John Plummer slipped her a note saying, “I am that man." After the speech, they met and John said, “She just opened her arms to me; I ...

1865. The Holy Spirit and You

John 14:15-27

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , writes in her classic book The Helper, “In the early morning hours Peter awakened with alarming pain in his chest and down both arms. The doctor came; the ambulance arrived and Peter was rushed to the hospital. I had no way of handling this crisis, but to drop to my knees in prayer. My knees had no sooner touched the floor than I experienced God as a comforting mother. There was a feeling of the everlasting arms around me. It was the infinite gentleness of a loving God touching my heart. In the days ...

1866. From Hunger to Satisfaction

Mark 6:30-44

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... styrofoam wafers and Cokesbury Chiclets to real bread for Communion a few years ago, some of you were concerned. I got letters complaining that children were enjoying Communion too much because the bread tasted so good. Most of all, people were concerned about the crumbs that drop on the floor. Kind of makes a mess. I apologize—but not really. Every time I see those crumbs, I think about this prayer. Even the crumbs under the Table are enough grace for me! There is enough mercy in the leftovers to make me ...

1867. Why Am I a Christian?

Mark 1:4-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... could not belong to it. The body of Christ has its warts. Congregations have faults. The little country church of my childhood gave me a foundation of faith. A little group of farmers up in Bardstown, where I served as student pastor, refused to let me drop out of seminary, even though none of them had been to college. Through the years, when I have faltered and fell, embarrassing myself and others, caring people would not let me go. When I got “too big for my britches" as my daddy would say, my superiors ...

1868. What Can Christians Learn from Muslims?

Genesis 21:1-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... comes to prayer. C. FASTING: Once a year, for the entire month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. I remember playing ping-pong with a young Egyptian when I was visiting there. We were in the middle of a game, when the clock struck the hour. My friend dropped his paddle and said, “I must go. The fast is ended." D. CHARITY: Two and a half percent of all one's assets goes to the poor and needy. At first I thought that wasn't much. I've always given at least ten percent of my income to the ...

1869. What Can Christians Learn from Hindus?

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... business, you just keep doing it until you get it right." Twenty percent of Americans believe in reincarnation. Of course, the goal of such transmigration of the soul is to ultimately merge with God, which means to reach Nirvana, where my self-centeredness is evaporated and my little drop of spirit is returned to the ocean of God's spirit. As a Christian I see eternity in light of Resurrection and life. In II Corinthians 5:8 Paul says, “To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord." I don't ...

1870. Develop Leaders—Humbly

Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... Spiritual leadership is not about inflated egos. Spiritual leadership is not about bigger than life charisma. Spiritual leadership is not about personal success. Spiritual leadership is young Jesus saying, “I must be about my Father's business." Spiritual leadership is Jesus sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane saying, “Not my will, but Thine be done." Spiritual leadership is doing it all for the glory of God. What does ego mean to you? Does ego mean edging God out? Does ego mean exalting ...

1871. Make Disciples—Intentionally

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... be an ice cream shop in Louisville named “Sweet Surrender." Sandy would go over there and drive about it thinking about the delicacies inside until she had this episode of sweet surrender. Does surrender mean ecstasy? Or is surrender defeat, your body beaten up and head dropped low in shame? Or is surrender resignation? We've done all we can do, we just have to wait and see. Or is surrender finding a new Lord to whom we pledge loyalty and a new kingdom in which to pledge our allegiance? You have accepted ...

1872. In Prayer’s Way

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... this morning. Will you put yourself “In Prayer’s Way?” I’m going to ask those of you who are able, to join me in closing our time together on our knees. We’re going to have a nano-prayer-meeting to end this sermon. We’re going to drop down to move up. And on our knees I want to begin our prayer time with remembering this: someone somewhere has been praying for you. This moment, right now, someone somewhere is praying for you. . . You and I are at the receiving end of prayer. Even when we’re ...

1873. The Joyful Provider

John 2:1-11

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... years that stretch literally all around this world, the community that we have with other people, it’s better than I deserve. When I think about the forgiving spirit people extend to me when I slip and fall and the willingness of people to offer me another chance when I drop the ball — I know that it is better than I deserve. That's what makes grace so amazing. It's better than we deserve. If such grace has brought us safe this far, is it not sufficient to get us all the way home? If you want to give up ...

1874. The Loving Friend

John 4:1-15

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... to Galilee is through Samaria, Jews never traveled that way. They took the long route across the Jordan River and then north through Jordan and then crossed back over into the area of Galilee where the fishing is good and the grass is green. So the disciples had to drop their faces and jaws and lips and wonder “What are you saying Jesus? I have to go through Samaria?" So why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? Well, you figure it out. I'm not sure I've got the answer. But as the story unfolds we sense ...

1875. Honoring God in a Pluralistic Society

Matthew 22:37-40

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... , the countries of the world, and the people of the world unite in their common effort to bring relief? Would that not be an act of God? Last weekend you put $39,000 in our offering plate for Tsunami Relief. Last Friday at the Islamic Center in Nashville, worshipers dropped over $22,000 in donations for tsunami victims. Is this not what love is all about? When it has all been said and done, Jesus said, “Only two things really matter: do I love God? Do I love others?" Herein lays one core Christian value.

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